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a.MKE: Milwaukee featured on the Ellen show, Typhoon Bopha, H3N2 and WI football news 12.5.12

Last night, Oakland Avenue on Milwaukee's East Side turned into a national TV set as hundreds of fans showed up in ugly holiday sweaters with toys in hand (for Toys For Tots) to be a part of the variety/talk show Ellen yesterday. Ellen gave away more than $5,000 in prizes, and the show will air today at 3pm on Channel 12.

This year's flu strain H3N2 is infecting people earlier than normal this season. Officials at the Center for Disease Control encourage all Wisconsin residents to get flu shots. Last year at this time, there were 7 confirmed cases, this year...113. Young kids and the elderly are most at risk.

Hundreds of people are missing and the death toll has risen to 283 in the Philippines today as typhoon Bopha battered beach resorts and dive spots yesterday, causing landslides and floods from the coast inland to farming and mining towns. The southern island of Mindanao was hit the worst and was still recouping from Typhoon Washi from almost exactly a year ago which killed 1,500 people.

In sports news, ESPNMilwaukee.com reported Green Bay running back James Sparks is in danger of being placed on injured reserve making him the 10th player to make that list this year. The search has begun to replace Wisconsin Badgers' head coach before they head to the Rose Bowl in late December. Bret Bielema is leaving UW to take a job in Arkansas.

Mayor Tom Barrett announced a new plan to fix Milwaukee's potholes while creating new jobs. He wants to team up with UMOS, a nonprofit advocacy group that helps underserved populations with employment, education, health and housing...

More recalls for car owners, this time it's from the world's biggest automaker. Toyota announced yesterday they're recalling 6.4 million cars world wide, 2 million of those vehicles are in North America. 27 different models have problems...

It's the end of a era....David Letterman announced, as of 2015, he will step down as host of "Late Night". He'll be wrapping up a great career: three decades on the air, the longest of any late-night talk show host in U.S. television...